An Overview of the Major Classes of Mental Illness

Thanks to science, education and outspoken advocates, there is less of a stigma surrounding mental illness than ever before.

In truth, poor mental health affects almost 20 percent of adults each year in the United States, or 1 in 5 people. This means that most Americans will know someone suffering from mental illness or experience it themselves.

While there are more than 200 different diagnosed mental illnesses, there are 5 major categories that most conditions fall within.

What are the 5 Classifications of Mental Illness?

1. Mood Disorders

Mood Disorders affect an estimated 9.5 percent of the population. These disorders create painful mental and physical symptoms along with feelings that go outside the normal variations of happiness or sadness.

4. Dementia

Dementia is characterized by a quick change in cognitive abilities, such as memory loss and the degeneration of physical and intellectual functions.

Most people associate dementia with Alzheimer’s disease. However, this condition can be brought about by other factors, such as a medical condition.

In these cases, dementia can be treated and sometimes reversed, but for the most part, dementia is not a curable disease.

Dementia can include:

Vascular dementia

Dementia caused by medical conditions, such as head trauma, HIV and Parkinson’s disease

Substance-induced dementia, brought about by alcohol or drug abuse, inhalants and exposure to toxins such as lead and mercury

5. Schizophrenic/Psychotic Disorders

Schizophrenic/Psychotic Disorders are believed to be caused by chemical imbalances in the brain that create a variety of symptoms, like hallucinations, delusions, withdrawal, impaired reasoning and incoherent speech.